Did anyone see coverage in the general media of the Capitol Hill symposium by the Frontiers of Freedom Institute entitled Global Warming: Science & Public Policy?
No? Fancy that.
News about global warming seems not to get much play when it contravenes the panic now driving policy-makers to consider expensive responses to problems that probably don't exist.
The institute made it easy enough for reporters to cover its forum. It published a news release that encapsulated in nontechnical language the presentations of people involved in global warming science and politics. Some samples:
Drs. Sallie Baliunas and Willie Soon, astrophysicists at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, pointed out that the earth's temperatures vary naturally, largely because of cycles in solar intensity. The climate now is cooler than the world's 3,000-year average.
Dr. John R. Christy, professor of atmospheric science and director of the Earth System Science Center at the University of Alabama at Huntsville, said that satellite and balloon measurements indicate little or no warming in the atmospheric layer from the surface to 30,000 ft since 1979.
Dr. David R. Legates, professor at the Center for Climatic Research at the University of Delaware voiced doubt about use of computer models to support claims that carbon dioxide of human origin is warming the planet. Forecasts are "tenable, at best," he said, from models that can't accurately simulate processes driving the climate system.
Dr. Margo Thorning, the lead economist at the American Council of Capital Formation, rejected claims that adoption of measures prescribed by the Kyoto Protocol on climate change, by either treaty or regulation, would cost little. She said the protocol would reduce the US gross domestic product by 4%/year and increase costs by 9% for food, by 11% for medical care, and by almost 20% for housing.
William Fay, president of the American Highway Users Alliance, said Kyoto Protocol measures would reduce freedom of Americans to choose where they live, work, and travel. He cited a study by Cambridge Systematics finding that a reduction in highway congestion through construction to improve bottlenecks can greatly reduce emissions. He pointed out that supporters of Kyoto measures also tend to oppose highway construction.
Myron Ebell, of the Competitive Enterprise Institute, said scientific consensus has shifted away from alarmism about global warming. But the "scare-mongering" will continue.
"This is because the Kyoto Protocol has nothing to do with global warming," Ebell said. "It is all about political power."
There's the key. Radical remedies fashioned in a panicky political struggle make news. Scientific doubts about the need for people to compromise personal freedoms get no attention.
Chances are good, sad as it is to say, that you read it here first.
